Red-letter day for Plymouth in sectional tennis

May 21, 2006|JEREMIAH HAWN Tribune Staff Writer

PLYMOUTH -- Before sectionals, Plymouth coach Brad Haeck stated that if his Pilgrims just played to their potential, they'd be fine. Either the depth of their potential has yet to be gauged, or they just played their best tennis as they didn't drop a single game on their way to a 5-0 win over Glenn to win the Plymouth sectional title. "I didn't expect to win 6-0, 6-0 at every spot," said Haeck. "But I expected us to come out ready to go and play our best tennis." Aly Neidlinger was the first off the courts for Big Red with a quick win over Jessica Downey at No. 1 singles. Plymouth's powerful No. 1 doubles duo of Erin Dunning and Heidi Keiser followed suit as they made the match look almost choreographed between one serving and the other smashing hard forehands between their two overmatched Glenn opponents. Dunning and Keiser sport a 20-1 record and have avenged their only loss against Northridge's Lauren Godfrey and Emily Herbster by beating them at the Northern Lakes Conference meet 3-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-1. "As a whole, our team is peaking at the right time," said Keiser. "We're looking forward to regionals." Plymouth will head to the South Bend Clay regional on Tuesday with a 15-2 record. Despite the success of the team, the NLC champion Pilgrims are unranked and have garnered little attention from other area teams. "We're kind of flying under the radar," said Keiser. "But it's a good thing for us. As long as we know how good we are, that's all that mattered." "We have probably been overlooked a little bit." said Haeck. "We started out ranked 17th in the preseason. We won our tournament against Merrillville and No. 20 Michigan City. When we lost to Elkhart Central, we didn't have two of our varsity players there." Plymouth lost to No. 18 Elkhart Central 3-2 and dropped a 3-2 decision to top-ranked Munster. Some of their biggest wins have been against Culver Military, Michigan City, and St. Joseph's. They beat Culver Military 3-2 and blanked St. Joseph's 5-0. Both teams advanced to regionals. One of the biggest reasons the team has had such success, according to Haeck, has been that every player on the team can step up to win. "We've had a couple matches where we've needed different spots to win and they've come through," said Haeck. "Especially in the regionals, it's all about getting certain spots to step up. It's sometimes a different spot every match." "Aly (Neidlinger) is one of the best players in the area. Carrie Edison has only lost two matches all year at No. 2 singles. No. 1 doubles has only lost one match as well. We really don't have any one spot that we depend on because we're not weak in any areas. You could say our No. 2 doubles team is the weakest, but they were the deciding point against Culver Academy." Plymouth will face Marian in the first round of regional. Culver Academy will face St. Joseph's in the other match.